Retro Knit Friday

I have finally finished the Christmas present for my nephew's little boy, a book of family stories illustrated by me. I had run out of humorous stories about my own branch of the family, but my lovely MIL took me aside at her birthday party on Sunday and told me some really funny stuff about my brother-in-law, the little boy's grandfather. These embarrassing tales were very shortly immortalized in living color. Here is a sample page from my favorite story, wherein my BIL gets his head stuck in a gate and a rescue must be arranged. There is also a great story where my BIL runs away and sneaks into a field and gets chased by a bull. Ah, the good old days!

Our retro offering for this week comes from a booklet I found in a bookstore in San Jose. This is Spinnerin Volume #163 which sold for $1 in 1963, the year it was published. This first pullover is knit in knitting worsted at 5 sts/inch on size 7 and 9 needles. It has a boat neckline, dropped shoulders, and the longer length of a ski sweater. I recall that skiing was a popular sport back in the sixties, if you could afford it. Lots of my school friends would go up to the Sierras with their families in the winter for the skiing and would sometimes come back with broken legs. I have never gone skiing in my life (which is a lucky thing for me, I think, not being overblessed with coordination) but I have always liked this look, popular in the sixties, of long, lean stirrup pants and a long ski sweater. Though I have always wondered if that would really be warm enough for outdoors.


This shorter sweater is a fifties throwback, and there are instructions for three different yarn weights. The sleeves are really big squares folded into tiangles and sewn in place, resulting in a batwing look. This is not the world's most attractive sweater.

'Furred For Fashion' has a texture stitch and fur trim. It has a classic jacket shape and is knitted at 4 sts/inch on size 9 and 10 1/2 needles. It would require some advanced sewing skills to sew that fur, which looks real, around the collar to look as nice as it does in the photo.

The yellow sweater has several interesting features. It is a stockinette raglan pullover, but the bottom section is knit in a pattern stitch with slip stitches that creates a fabric that looks like cross stitch fabric or huck towels. This is later embroidered in a pattern that does look like huck towel embroidery (Swedish Weaving).

Another raglan pullover, this one called 'Stunning Impact'. It is also knit in knitting worsted. The bands of color are knitted first, then the center black motifs are embroidered.

I spent today doing fascinating things like changing sheets, clearing a clog from the vacuum cleaner, and going to the hardware store. Now I am going to go sew some more.